


a real fine place to start

by Blayzes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Angst, Arranged Marriage, First Kiss, Getting Together, Keith has it all figured out, Lance (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Confused Bi Boy, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Light Angst, M/M, the wolf was supposed to be here but i couldnt squeeze him in im sorry, this is entirely self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 16:03:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15246855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blayzes/pseuds/Blayzes
Summary: The war's not over yet, but at this point, it's become a race to gather as many Galra to the good side before Honerva can. Allura, ever the diplomat and princess, decides that perhaps the best way to achieve this is to have a high-profile Altean and a high-profile Galra join together in marriage.Keith has an idea.





	a real fine place to start

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually supposed to be a shitpost on tumblr spanning just a few hundred words and it turned into this?? monstrosity??? Im so sorry
> 
> It’s here now! Sorry for taking so long, I was having trouble getting the dialogue right.

The war's not over yet, but at this point, it's become a race to gather as many Galra to the good side before Honerva can. Allura, ever the diplomat and princess, decides that perhaps the best way to achieve this is to have a high-profile Altean and a high-profile Galra join together in marriage. She says this with the heavy implication that she would be that high-profile Altean, and it's very obvious it's something she doesn't really want to do but will for the sake of the coalition.

Lance talks her out of it. Not because he wants her to himself -- he's already come to terms with the fact that that'll never happen -- but because he wants Allura's happiness. He's also a hopeless romantic and doesn't like the idea of one of his best friends entering a loveless, strictly political marriage. Allura puts up an argument, but Lance is able to talk her out of it. Somebody else can become betrothed; Allura deserved better.

This entire time, Keith can only stare contemplatively at Lance. He has an idea, and now that Allura has been completely talked out of marrying a Galra herself, Keith thinks his idea might actually be possible. He decides to go for it.

"What about me and Lance?" he declares, walking up to Lance and taking his hand.

After the paladins decided that a trip to Earth was a necessity, they took a little time beforehand to visit the Altean colony. It was there that Lance met someone he never thought he'd meet, and certainly not in space: His father, an Altean. Lance was shocked at first and, unlike Keith and Krolia, ended up distancing himself from the father that abandoned him (as an Altean, his father would have been safer on Earth as he could have blended in better with humans that the very obviously-alien Krolia could have). Lance can handle that he's Altean -- he took that pretty well, actually -- but he can't handle knowing his flesh and blood chose a life in exile rather than stay with his family. The team has been avoiding the subject ever since, for Lance's sake.

"WHAT?!" Lance squawks, blushing furiously. "What makes you think I'd want to marry you?!" A look of hurt crosses Keith's face before Keith schools his expression into a more neutral one.

Keith explains that as paladins, they are high-profile Galra and Altean respectively. As an added bonus, since they're both half-human, that also gives the Galra and Alteans a positive connection to Earth.

Lance is, predictably, outraged because how DARE they decide this for him! He pulls Keith closer, obviously trying to stay out of earshot of the rest of the team.

"Why would you put me on the spot like this?" Lance's voice is more hushed now, attempting to keep the conversation between him and Keith.

"It'll be good for the coalition, for the universe," Keith tells him just as quietly. In actuality, Keith has had feelings for Lance for a long while now. The idea of being married to him... well, maybe Keith is being selfish here, but his words to Lance are not untrue. 

"What about what's good for _me_?" Lance hisses back.

"It's not always about _you_ , Lance," Keith retorts, but he feels a flash of hurt. "Marriage isn't going to kill you."

"A marriage to you _might_ ," and that's all takes to crumble Keith's resolve. He ducks his head, eyes downcast.

Sighing heavily, Keith whispers, "Would it really be that bad being married to me?"

Lance's expression changes to that of regret, and he looks close to placing a comforting hand on Keith, but he seems to steel himself against it.

"Yes-- No-- I don't know!" Lance suddenly shouts, stepping away from Keith in a fit of frustration. "It's just-- This is all happening so fast and I want to help the coalition but I've always wanted to be married to someone I love and I know the universe is more important but it's just-- It's all so much!"

A rush of sympathy floods Keith, and he steps closer to Lance and places his hands on Lance's biceps.

"It's okay, Lance," he murmurs affectionately, giving Lance a soft smile. "I'm sorry. Look-- You don't have to answer now, and you don't have to say yes. It was just an idea. You can-- You can think about it?" and he asks it instead of suggesting it, worried Lance will lash out at him for it.

But he doesn't. He's still visibly upset, but he's noticeably calmer.

"Yeah, okay," he mumbles, breaking away from Keith's embrace and retreating to a small wooded area. Keith stares after him helplessly, feeling at a loss for what he should do.

He knows now he shouldn't have forced this on Lance -- it was selfish of him, of course Lance isn't as interested in marrying Keith as Keith is in marrying Lance.

Lance needs space right now, he needs time alone to think. Keith could give him that, would give him that. He could do this.

He lasts maybe an hour.

When he finds Lance, it's in a small clearing. Lance is sitting on the ground with his knees pulled to his chest and looks lost in thought.

Keith clears his throat to announce his presence, but Lance doesn't move, doesn't speak, doesn't acknowledge him at all. So Keith just stands there awkwardly, not exactly sure what he should do in this situation.

"Why me?"

Lance's quiet voice causes Keith to jump, and when he looks at the blue paladin, he's staring at Keith with an unreadable expression.

"What-- what do you mean?"

"Allura's a high profile Altean, too. Why not her?"

"She didn't want to marry at all."

"I haven't acted enthused about it either, yet you're still pushing a marriage with me."

"I'm not trying to push it, Lance, I just thought--"

"What? What did you think?" Lance jumps to his feet at this point, looking like an animal caught in a trap -- wild, fierce, and terrified.

"I just thought... you were the better choice."

Lance looks utterly shocked by this, so Keith sweeps on. "Allura's great, yeah, but... well, so are you. You're a great person, you were the perfect right-hand man for me, the team probably would have gone under a dozen or so times if you hadn't been there, and I thought it might be something you'd want because you'd finally get the glory and attention that you've been wanting -- that you deserve -- and I just-- why aren't you saying anything?!"

Because Lance is just silently standing there, looking dumbfounded, like Keith had just given Lance the most unorthodox secret of life. Keith almost tries again until Lance beats him to it.

"I just-- I don't get it!" Lance bursts out. "You distance yourself from us, leave us, almost get yourself killed on purpose, and then suddenly you come back and ask to marry me and say all this nice stuff about me?! I don't get it! I don't-- I don't get _you_!"

Lance lets out a shaky sigh, dropping his hands from where they were running through his hair.

"I missed you," he says suddenly, voice quiet. "I missed you and you just brushed me off like I meant nothing and then you start acting like you care? You can't just do that, you can't just--"

"Lance, I've _always_ cared," Keith doesn't like cutting Lance off, but this needs to be said. "I have always cared. I cared when you first helped me save Shiro. I cared the first time I saw you smile at me. I cared when I held your hand and you told me we made a good team. I cared when I saved you and your lion from Nyma and Rolo. I cared when you came up with strategies on the Balmera off the top of your head like it was nothing. I cared when the castle was trying to kill us. I cared when we got stuck in that elevator and had to escape it by using our wits and working together. I cared when you saved mine and Hunk's butts with a cow on a hoverboard. I cared when you decided right away that it didn't matter I was Galra, that I was still Keith. I cared when you comforted me after Shiro died. I cared when you encouraged me to become the leader I didn't think I could be. I cared when you helped me become the leader you had faith I'd become. I cared when you saved me countless times without a second thought. I cared when you admitted how insecure you were about your place in Voltron. I cared when I chose to do something about it by stepping down and letting Shiro take charge, even though the black lion rejected him. I cared--"

"Stop."

Normally, Keith would press on, but Lance's voice was so choked that Keith automatically obeys.

Lance is red in the face, his eyes watery and he blinks rapidly to try and dispel the tears -- he only succeeds in causing them to fall, and once they start, he can't stop. Keith closes the space between them in seconds, pulling Lance into a tight embrace.

"I have always cared, Lance," he murmurs into Lance's ear. "Always. That's why I chose you instead of asking Allura to marry me."

Lance gasps as if the thought that anyone would choose him over the princess was too astounding to process.

"This isn't just about the coalition, Lance. I admit... my reason for choosing this is selfish."

He takes a deep breath before finishing his thought, preparing himself for imminent rejection.

"I want to be your husband. In the entire universe, there is nobody I'd want this with more than you."

Lance has stilled in his arms, pausing even his breath at the confession. Then, suddenly, Lance is fisting Keith's clothes and holding Keith as tightly to him as possible. He keeps quiet, but Keith distinctly feels a sob shudder through Lance's body.

"I didn't know," Lance chokes out quietly. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Telling you, my so-called rival who always showed an aversion to me, that I'm in love with you?" Keith asks incredulously. "How would that have worked in my favor?"

"It would have-- I don't know!" Lance's voice becomes stronger, his crying calming down. "Maybe I would have realized sooner that how I feel about you isn't exactly platonic, either!"

This gave Keith pause. "... wait, what?"

"I like you! Like, _like_ like you!" Lance nearly shouts, standing back to look Keith in the eye; he looks frustrated and flustered and confused. He was suddenly rambling, unable to keep his tangled web of emotions in check, apparently. "I'm pretty sure I have for a while now, but I was too afraid to admit it, so I just clung to my small crush on Allura until it wasn't so small anymore. And then I didn't know how I felt because my relationship with you got better after you became leader but then you left and I felt rejected and then my relationship with Allura got better because I had stopped flirting with her when I was getting closer to you so I started having those feelings for Allura again only stronger this time but she was into Lotor and left me high and dry and I felt horrible because the two people I cared about most rejected me but then you came back and yeah, you brushed me off -- which I'm still mad about, by the way, don't think you're off the hook for that -- but I was just so happy to see you again and have you back on the team that I almost forgot how heartbroken I felt over Allura, seeing you again actually made me feel better, it made me feel whole again and I... I'm not sure I can live without that feeling again."

And Lance looks so dejected and forlorn as he finishes speaking that it takes everything in Keith to not bring Lance into another hug.

"You don't have to," Keith rasps. "I'm not leaving again. I promise that to you. You... you make me feel whole, too. I'm glad the Blade worked me so hard because if they hadn't, I would have spent most of my time missing you. I'm not leaving you again. I don't think I could."

That is apparently enough for Lance because Lance leans in and presses a chaste kiss to Keith's lips. Keith melts immediately, kissing back but keeping it gentle, worried he could scare Lance away by showing too much enthusiasm.

When they pull away, Lance has the most affectionate, soft look Keith had ever seen him wear and it does something to Keith's insides. It makes Keith want to kiss him again, but he restrains himself; Lance is the most nervous of the two and he needs to be the one making the first moves for now.

"Look, I don't..." Lance trails off, seems to gather himself, then starts again. "I don't feel as strongly for you as you do for me." Quickly, he holds up a hand to stop Keith, who was about to interject that that was okay. "Let me finish. I don't feel as strongly for you as you do for me, but... But I do feel something for you. And, eventually, I think the strength of our feelings for each other will become mutual."

Keith smiles softly at him, letting all the affection he feels for this boy show in his gaze. "I'll wait for you," he whispers.

"You don't have to wait for me," Lance breathes with a soft grin of his own, pressing his forehead to Keith's. "I'm right here."

With that, Lance leans in for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> My main tumblr: [space-mom-lance](http://space-mom-lance.tumblr.com/)  
> My art tumblr: [mewkiichigo](http://mewkiichigo.tumblr.com/)  
> My deviantART: [blayzes](http://blayzes.deviantart.com/)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! <3


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